Northwestern's Kevin Mims ready for life after football

SAN ANTONIO — When Northwestern players traveled to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, most brought a week's worth of clothes. But everything Kevin Mims owns is en route to Texas on two trucks.

Monday, after the Wildcats finish their season against Missouri, the senior defensive end will finish one chapter of his life, leaving behind Evanston, football and teammates, and begin a new phase, moving into a recently built home in his Texas hometown with his wife of five months and starting a job.

"My football family is going to Chicago and my wife's family is going back to Wisconsin," Mims said on Friday. "I'm really happy to be here with these guys and taking all this in with them. And it's great to have a wife who understands that."

About 50-60 family members will travel to watch Mims play in his college finale after five seasons that included injuries, the death of former coach Randy Walker, a new head coach and defensive coordinator, and the resurgence of a bottom-ranked defense into one of the Big Ten's fiercest. Capping it with Northwestern's first bowl victory since 1949 would be a fitting send-off, Mims said.

"All the guys have grown so much," he said. "I'm really proud of that."

The Wildcats' defense will face its most difficult challenge, attempting to slow a dynamic Missouri offense that averages 43.2 points per game, with quarterback Chase Daniel completing 74 percent of his passes. The Tigers scored 52 or more points six times and went three-and-out only eight times all season.

"If there was an offense more potent, I can't remember it," Northwestern defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz said. "I had more hair and didn't have any gray before I started looking at Missouri."

Mims played for Northwestern in 2005, when its defense ranked dead last in Division I football.

With Hankwitz's attacking schemes, the Wildcats held opponents to 19.3 points per game and led the Big Ten with 33 sacks.

Mims, who takes painkillers for a back injury sustained last season, has 44 tackles this season, including seven a loss. He recorded 2 1/2 sacks in the regular season finale against Illinois.

"He's a student of the game," Hankwitz said. "He maximizes his potential."

That's the reason Mims' teammates call him "The Technician."

At The Woodlands High near Houston, Mims was not the most physically imposing player, so he figured he'd better know what he was doing.

"He's been an inspirational player to our guys," Fitzgerald said. "Character to him is seven days a week. He hasn't changed a lick. He found a soul mate while he was here in college."

Mims met Courtnie Paulus, a former Northwestern volleyball captain, when he lived below her dorm room as a freshman. To encourage her to visit, he would throw a field hockey ball against the ceiling.

He proposed to her in 2007. They married July 19 in Texas and moved their honeymoon to Fiji back to February.

Paulus drove the contents of the couple's Rogers Park third-floor walk-up studio apartment to Texas, where they will move into a two-story, five-bedroom ranch house on six acres.

"I think he's glad he's in San Antonio and can focus on football," Courtnie said.

Mims, who graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, will work as an engineering and sales representative with his father at Imagimotive, a company they started that produces mobile tailgating units.

Mims talked about Northwestern's future without him, but he might have been speaking to his own future when he said, "It will be more of a beginning than an end."

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MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL

West Virginia (8-4) vs. North Carolina (8-4)

Noon in Charlotte

TV: ESPN

Line: West Virginia by 1 1/2

Player to watch: West Virginia QB Pat White, who finished seventh in Heisman balloting.

Reason to watch: The talented Tar Heels will look to spoil White's last college game.

Pick: NORTH CAROLINA

CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL

Wisconsin (7-5) vs. Florida State (8-4)

3:30 p.m. in Orlando

TV: ESPN

Line: Florida State by 5 1/2

Player to watch: Wisconsin RB John Clay, who cleared the 100-yard mark three times in his last four games.

Reason to watch: It's one of the Big Ten's best chances for a victory. And one of these years, Bobby Bowden really will retire.

Pick: FLORIDA STATE

EMERALD BOWL

Miami (Fla.) (7-5) vs. California (8-4)

7 p.m. in San Francisco

TV: ESPN

Line: Cal by 8 1/2

Player to watch: Cal RB Jahvid Best, a 2009 Heisman hopeful who rushed for 512 yards in the Bears' final two games.

Reason to watch: To see if the erratic Hurricanes can scare a Cal team playing a short drive from its campus.